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“I'm not sure about this,” Jaime pouted.
Brienne sighed, summoning all her patience. “We've already talked about this, Jaime. And we know the boy perfectly well.”
Annie's fifteenth nameday was dawning, and it would be also the day when she would be formally betrothed to Brynden Tully, the third born to Edmure and Roslin Tully. He was the same age as Annie and had been squiring for Jaime and Brienne in Casterly Rock since he was eight years old.
Shortly after their return from Tarth (the visit during which Rosie was still a baby and little Sansa was conceived), the Tullys had requested house Lannister to host Brynden, following the tradition between houses. They wished for their son to squire for two of the greatest knights in the kingdoms. And Edmure had hinted not very subtly at the debt that supposedly the Lannister house had incurred with him for the crimes committed against his family during the past wars. Jaime's exasperated eyeroll at Edmure's letter had been worthy of Brienne's best performance of the facial gesture.
After their firstborn, named Hoster, the Tullys had a girl, Bethany, another son, Brynden, and twins named Edmure and Minisa. Hoster was heir to Riverrun and Bethany to The Twins. Brynden had showed interest in knighthood since a very early age, so his parents had the idea to send him to Casterly Rock to squire for the most famous married knights in Westeros.
“Brynden is a decent boy and he's helplessly smitten with Annie, as she's with him. Anyone can see it. Besides, they know each other well and are very close friends since they were both eight. What else can you ask for?,” Brienne reasoned.
“I should have killed Edmure when there was still time. If I had, there wouldn't be a little Tully kidnapper trying to steal my daughter away,” Jaime complained.
“He isn't stealing your daughter away. They're going to go on living here as always. Annie is the heir to Casterly Rock by her own choice and Brynden will be her consort. She even will keep the Lannister name. Truly, Jaime, I don't see any cause for concern. And don't tell me you aren't deeply fond of the boy, because that would be a blatant lie,” Brienne reproached.
Jaime huffed. “One thing doesn't exclude the other. I can be very fond of the boy, but to have him as my precious firstborn's betrothed is a different matter. It's just...,” he hesitated.
“It's just what?,” Brienne encouraged, though for her it wasn't difficult to guess his thoughts.
“It's just I don't think there's anyone in this world deserving of Annie. She and our other children are the suns of my life and I don't want them to be valued less than they are worth. That's to say, they are worth the whole world and the sky, no less,” Jaime confessed with brilliant eyes and a lump in his throat.
Brienne was rendered speechless for a while, deeply touched and in the verge of tears. Every passing year she had grown to love Jaime more and more, if that was possible. He was one of the most amazing fathers she had ever seen. She hugged him tightly and rested her chin on his shoulder, breathing in his familiar, soothing scent. “Brynden worships the ground she walks on, you know. He wasn't intimidated when he asked you for her hand, or at least he hid his fear very well. Considering who you are, and that you are Annie's father, that was a true feat,” she tried to tease lightly.
“That's the thing. I can't hate him. It would be much easier if I could hate him and send him packing. But you're right, as always. I love and respect the boy. My brain knows he'll make her happy. But my heart refuses to believe that my daughter is already almost a woman grown. Yesterday so to speak, she was my little baby. I carried her in my arms. I put her to sleep. I fed her. I bathed her. I changed her diapers. I soothed her when she was in pain or had nightmares or was scared. I was there when she started to walk, to talk, when her first tooth fell out. When she learned to fight, to read, to write, to do so many things. When she had her first moonblood.”
Brienne nodded on his shoulder. “Seeing them grow up is the most beautiful thing in life, but it's sad too, because that means life goes so fast and they won't be our little children anymore.”
“She'll always be our little girl, no matter what,” he asserted.
“Yes, she'll always be. Even if she's nearly as tall as you and her development hasn't stopped yet,” she teased again to lighten the mood.
Jaime snorted. “She's at least four inches taller than him.”
Brienne swatted his chest. “Remember he hasn't stopped his development either. And I've never heard you making an issue of the height difference between your brother and Sansa, to quote an example. Why is it an issue now?”
He looked a little ashamed, to his credit. “It isn't, truly. I was only trying to find fault with the boy, as is my duty as Annie's father.” He smiled mischievously at her eyeroll.
Brienne caressed his beard. By then, his hair was all grey, except for some scarce golden tresses. He used to complain mockingly about his draining family being the reason for his aging. Because you aren't draining at all, of course, Brienne always retorted sarcastically, to which he adopted an air of fake innocence that made everyone laugh. “Jaime, today you'll behave, all right? This day is very important to Annie. Don't ruin it, please. You know she'll kick your ass hard if you do and you don't want to come to that.”
He feigned a shiver in her arms. “Of course I don't. I still remember the last time I made her feel a bit embarrassed in public. I learned my lesson from my bruised ribs. She hits even harder than you, wench.”
“You better. And be respectful to Brynden. The boy has waited patiently until Annie's fifteenth nameday to ask formally for her hand and they'll wait until she's turned seventeen to get married, the age in which people in Westeros come of age. They are behaving accordingly to all your demands, so the least you can do is reciprocate in kind,” Brienne warned sternly.
Jaime's face darkened. “And he better doesn't touch her before the wedding, because otherwise I'll find out and it would be him who would end up more than bruised, preferably with his corpse floating in the Sunset Sea.”
Brienne glanced up as if summoning more patience from the gods. “I'm certain he'll hold himself back, as the gentleman he is and for the sake of the love he professes her. But either way, it's their life and their privacy. You don't have the right to meddle in their relationship. And besides, Annie is mature enough to know how to conduct herself. And so is Brynden.”
Jaime kept his skeptical demeanour. “They're teenagers, love.”
“As you and I were once. And here we are with a wonderful family, including an overprotective father, as a true father is due to be, so the mother has to restrain him from drowning his daughter's suitor.” She smiled conciliatory and stroked his beard again. “One day, Brynden will be an overprotective father too and then he'll understand your current reticence and perhaps you'll forgive him at last when you watch his predicament.”
Jaime offered her his half smile. “Perhaps. But remember he is a man. Many men are fools. I know because I am one as well. Back in the day, I was a complete ass.”
“Be that as it may, they are entitled to make their own mistakes and learn from them, if it comes to that. Let life go its natural course,” she advised.
“That's precisely what I fear,” he replied, still unconvinced. “But right now, there's something we can do to help me forget my worries for a while,” he suggested with a sensual tone.
It was quite early in the morning and they hadn't got up yet, so they didn't waste time to use the bed in a very different way that involved little conversation and none of sleep.